* 30 year high school English and theatre teacher

* Looking for clear explanations of contentions, and rebuttals.

* Articulation and enunciation is essential.

* Cruel and profane language is NEVER acceptable.

* Be kind above all else

Hello, I am thrilled to be judging LD Debate. Today, March 10, 2024, is my first time judging this event; however, it was my favorite event when I was in high school, a million years ago, so I am extremely familiar with its design and purpose. As a judge, I respect crisp analysis of research, anticipation and prep for rebuttals, and overall excellent delivery. That being said, it is important for you to understand that I am extremely sensitive to your professional demeanor. I welcome robust and dogmatic points, but if I find your tone too aggressive or condescending, you will lose favor. I also appreciate good pacing but find spreading to be less persuasive and effective. Congratulations on making it to this point and good luck!

I’m a 4-yr PF debater and senior at State College Area High School. I’ve been both 1st and 2nd speaker, as well as a TEDx speaker. I will disclose if tournament allows me to. My written RFD won’t be long, but I’m happy to elaborate on my feedback / give advice (email redacted).

I give speaker points starting from 28 (unless you’re rude, racist, sexist, etc.). For varsity, if you collapse on an argument in addition to winning the round, I will give extra speaks.

If you talk too fast (more than 250 wpm), I won’t be able to flow and thus consider what you say. Also, I’m not very familiar with progressive debate (Kritiks, theory, all that). I welcome you to run it but you’d have to explain it well to me. I appreciate frameworks.

Tabula rasa. Signpost. Bracketing is bad. No debater math please. Have good evidence AND warranting. Don’t pull a “nuclear war will kill 2 billion people” and never explain why.

I don’t flow cross but I do pay attention during it. If you make an argument in crossfire or your opponent concedes an argument in crossfire, you must say it in a speech in order for me to count it. Also, don’t yell or interrupt.

I want to see weighing by summary speech at the latest; you can even weigh in the end of 2nd rebuttal. CRYSTALLIZE. Respond to (frontline) all rebuttals and follow through on all your own arguments in summary AND FF, or else I will consider it dropped. Don’t lie (ie. claiming the other team dropped X).

You don’t get unlimited prep time to ask for cards before prep time is used. You have 30 seconds to request and there are then 30 seconds to provide the evidence. If you can’t provide it within 30 seconds your prep will run until you do.

Weigh. Have fun and good manners.

· Speak confidently and clearly

· Respect other team while they are speaking

· Don’t stress & have fun

I have experience in PF debate of all levels (as a debater myself) so feel free to speak at a speed that is faster than what you would normally do for parent judges. Slight caveat, while I do flow this isn’t an excuse to speak so fast you need to take 5 quick breaths in 25 seconds nor is it an excuse to believe that I will flow your arguments for you. I understand the need to collapse arguments and evidence but if you do, at least make reference to that the fact you stated that evidence (either in Summary or Final Focus). Overall, I value strong Rebuttals and 2nd Cross Fires more than anything else. 9/10 debates I judge are won or lost between the Rebuttal and the Summary. Usually I weigh on clashing impacts that still remain at the end of the debate.

I'm currently the Riparian Program Manager for an accredited land trust and environmental non-profit, Clearwater Conservancy. I previously worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a regulatory biologist and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered Species Biologist. I'm also a Certified Ophthalmic Technician and worked alongside an ophthalmologist for several years. This is my fourth year judging public forum. I appreciate factual evidence and well supported arguments that logically back up your impact statement. Please remain respectful while debating, and speak clearly. Email for evidence sharing: jkdombroskie@gmail.com

NEW NOTE: PLEASE EXTEND YOUR LINKS IN SUMMARY AND FF!!!!! TEAMS KEEP TELLING ME TO "EXTEND THE ____ LINK"! THATS YOUR JOB, NOT MINE! IF SOMEONE CAN'T HEAR YOUR FF AND UNDERSTAND YOUR ARGUMENT IN FULL I WILL NOT VOTE FOR IT!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former debater for JR Masterman. Doubles at Gold TOC. noaheggerts@gmail.com

Win your links and weigh. Debate however you want, I’ll follow your lead. Over 250 WPM you’ll start losing me. I’m fine with Ks, theory, and prefiat framing, but not experienced with them, so explain it to me. However, if you run frivolous theory and your opponent explains why it's bad, I won't care about conceded warrants or competing interps, I won't vote for it. Defense is sticky. I will be playing the Google snake game during cross.

Confusing your opponents is never worth confusing me. Warrant, implicate, and weigh three times more than you think you should.

I promise you none of the perceptual stuff you do before round will influence me - be normal.

Be funny, don’t be a bad person, have fun.

Hi,

This is my first time judging. I am excited to work with you. Some things that I am looking for are:

1. Clarity
2. Speak Slowly
3. Feel free to ask questions
4. Be respectful and kind
5. I love clarity in cited sources.

Good Luck!

Kourtney

I'm a flay parent judge. This is my second year judging PF. In high school I did speech and went to nationals in extemp. But I did not do debate. Expect me to vote on the flow. Make sure your warranting is clear. Because public forum debate is meant to be substantive and understandable to laypeople, I do not look favorably on progressive arguments or debate jargon.

Hi. I prefer debaters speak clearly so I can follow all your points. Too many words lose their meaning so think carefully about saying what you want to say as succinctly as possible so you do not have to speed talk. I value kindness and being polite to one another. I look forward to hearing you debate.

I would prefer better explained evidence and how it supports your contention

In crossfire make sure to respect everyone, don't shout and let the other side ask questions as well

Make sure that your questions are questions not statements

English Teacher at J.R. Masterman School. What I look for is a strong argumentative presence and addressing the other team's responses in detailed, impassioned rebuttals.

1. Clarity of thought and how you make your point.
2. Eye-contact: maintain good contact with all involved and not talk to one person.
3. Tone- should be assertive and not aggressive.
4. Overall body language/ gestures when in debate- avoid being dismissive about your opponent.
5. Time management.

Hello everyone! I am a novice judge and this is my first time judging pf. Please speak at reasonable pace- do not spread. I haven’t done extensive research on this resolution, so make your case understandable. Don’t just read out evidence, make sure to explain why your evidence supports your point. Be respectful during debates and avoid any harmful language. Good Luck!

I am a parent judge who competed quite a bit in speech and debate. I am also a trained trial lawyer. I appreciate clear arguments with delivery that shows me that you're actually trying to persuade.

I want to know that you understand your argument and your opponent's, and I value clarity of thought over a battle of the cards. I will weigh experts as needed, though, so give me a reason why your expert is better than theirs. Weigh the arguments, and be explicit. I do prioritize arguments: if you win the central argument, you will almost certainly win the round. Make sure you know what the central argument is.

I love a clever turn. It's one of my favorite things.

I can handle speed but ask you to keep it clear. I am also slightly hard of hearing and ask you to keep your voice up. I will tell you if I can't hear you.

Be civil, even during CX. I won't give the round to an underdog, but it will hurt your speaker points if you're rude to one.

I will absolutely never tolerate racist, homophobic, classist, misogynistic, or other arguments based in hate and ignorance rather than logic and compassion.

· Speak clear and slow.

· Be respectful and appreciative of others.

· Don't rush but rather emphasize on points that according to you are more important than others.

Thank you and looking forward to a great debate.

I am a flay judge with a little over 10 years experience judging and coaching. I didn't do debate in high school or college, but I have really enjoyed it on the judging side, and I have learned a great deal. Having said that:

1. I prefer arguments to technicalities. Debates about debate are not great.

2. If you are participating in an evidence-based event, do give evidence, and be clear and specific when you cite it.

3. Clash with the opposing arguments; more often than not I end up deciding which arguments I PREFER, rather than which ones I believe.

4. Signpost as you go. It helps me keep my flow organized.

5. Keep your impacts at the forefront.

6. Give me voters and weigh.

7. Ask questions during CX, and engage with your opponents, don't just give more speeches.

Good luck, and have fun.

I am new judging PF debate. I have been a finance professional for 20+ years, therefore sentences with numbers catch my attention without a doubt.

1) Signposts tidy things up and help me to follow better.

2) I value accuracy, practicality, logic, and evidence over polished words.

3) Be respectful and use etiquette. Attack the argument not the person.

4) Speak at a reasonable speed and good luck.

I have several preferences regarding speaks:

• Speak at a measured pace - Clarity over speed. It is not the amount of content covered but the idea is to convince the judge of your arguments - Ensure that your debate is comprehensible - Speak with volume to modulate your tone in conveying your arguments effectively - Appropriate eye contact with your opponents or judges as required
• My preferences for argument - I favor strong and logical arguments supported by facts and warranting - Extend your warranting - I judge the rationality of an argument based on your impact, but the entire case must be cohesive - I will vote for the larger impact only if the point is warranted properly and well articulated - Strong impactful arguments made by opponents left unresponded to will go in your opponents' favor - As a judge, I won’t contribute my knowledge to this debate and will solely judge on information presented to me. Make sure to address your opponents' arguments appropriately. - Speaker points do not affect my judging decision, but I prefer a well-articulated argument conveyed effectively.
• What not to do - Do not source battle unnecessarily, argue, and extend with your warrants. Rather convey your arguments with a force of rationality. - Do not belittle opponents' sources - Evidence should support your arguments, not arguments supporting evidence. The point is not to sprinkle pieces of evidence but to weave those into your story with consistency. Best of luck and most of all enjoy the debate!!

My name is Renjith Mathew. I am a Senior Manager in Boeing Defense and Space Systems. I would appreciate if the debaters can speak clearly and concisely. I kindly ask the debaters to time your own speeches and own prep.

I’d be grateful if you could follow these guidelines:

• Make sure you speak with clarity.
• Have logical arguments.
• Need to make sure you are quoting credible references.
• Be willing to take risks and be confident.

Be respectful of other teams. Hope you have a fun and learning experience.

I am sure this volunteering experience will make me more knowledgeable as well.

I am a lay judge. Please know I will need the following to render a meaningful decision:

1. Please speak slowly and clearly. If you speak quickly, aka "spread", I will miss your argument.
2. Please signpost and do off-time road maps.
3. Please let your opponents finish their statements before responding during crossfire.
4. Please do not use jargon.
5. Please keep your own time.
6. Please figure out how to share your cards before the round starts.
7. Do not discount cross. I am always ok with open cross earlier in the debate, anything to get you to meaningfully engage on the topic.
8. Please be respectful of each other and act ethically.

Jeremy Samek

I participated in policy debate for three years as a college student at Liberty University many years ago.

2023-24 is my first season as a high school speech and debate coach.

My approach to Speech & Debate is a learning experience, with feedback and growth being more important than winning tournaments. As such, my notes and critiques are meant to improve, not to discourage. I prefer competitors who seek to connect with the judge and the audience rather than simply win points or bash an opponent. Speaking slowly, clearly, and with purpose are the best ways to win my vote.

I am a debate parent and this is my first time as a judge. Please speak slowly and clearly. I appreciate it when people are polite and respectful to the other team.

I prefer slower, more clearly communicated claims and rebuttals vs. faster content attempting to introduce the most claims possible. Signposting is also preferred to best flow which claims are being rebutted.

I appreciate clear analysis of why you should win in the final focus.

As a judge, either in PFD or LD , I am looking for a good respectful debate, and please note I am traditionalist - yes circuit competitors you hate seeing this. However, the structure and format is set for a reason.

Please make sure you use sound evidence and impacts should be clear, like in LD your Value should win out, please do not make this a policy round.

Thank you and have a great tournament.

If you're going to make an assertion, you better back it up with evidence and analysis.

If you have evidence, you better give me analysis to tie back to your point. Don't assume the evidence speaks for itself.

If you make a point you better give analysis to show it proves that supporting/negating is the way to go.

NOTE: I get REALLY cranky if I suspect debaters are manipulating (or outright faking) evidence. I also get really cranky if debaters try to claim the other side did something they did not do, or did not do something they did do. It's shady debate. Don't do it.

If you're a PF debater, don't waste your time with off-time roadmaps, because there are only two things you should ever be doing--hitting their case, and defending yours (this includes teams running a non-traditional case. Even if you're running a k, you should still be hitting their case, and defending yours). Even when you are weighing, it is just hitting their case, and defending yours. If you are organized in presenting your points it will be clear what you are doing. I'm ok with paraphrasing, but if the other team asks to see the original text and you can't produce it, I'm ignoring your evidence. I'm also ok with non-traditional approaches, but you better make it CLEAR CLEAR CLEAR that it's necessary, because I will always pref good debate over acrobatics.

If you're an LD debater, you better be giving analysis that shows your points are proving that you have achieved your value criterion. Articulate the connections, don't assume they speak for themselves. As far as non-traditional cases, I won't automatically vote against, but you better sell me on the necessity of going there, and that it's enriching the debate, and not hobbling it. (Particular note: I really hate pure theory cases, but won't automatically vote against. That being said, let me reiterate-- You better prove that what you have to say is improving the quality of the debate, and that your theory is a better/more important debate than the debate over the resolution. Which means you will have to still talk about the resolution, and why your debate is more important. If you're just doing it for the sake of being fancy, it's a no-go for me.)

I don't ever judge CX, so if you're reading my paradigm as a CX debater-- why?

No one should ever tell me when or how to time. You can self-time, but I am the final arbiter of time.

If you are excessively rude, aggressive, shouty, or derisive you will see it in your speaks. If you are racist/sexist/homophobic, or any other type of bigoted I will vote against you every single time. This includes denying a person's lived experience.

If you post-round me, I will shut you down-- you might as well put me down on your permanent strike list (this does not include students who ask me questions for the purposes of improving their debate in the future. I am always happy to answer those questions.)

Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, and Extemporaneous Debate are persuasive speaking events. Your speech must be geared toward the average, non-technical college-graduate-level audience. You do not need to 'dumb it down' for a Reality-TV audience, but if you are talking too fast, or using undefined jargon - even common LD terms like Utilitarianism or Categorical Imperative - you are hurting your chances. And refer to arguments by their substance, not name dropping - not 'My Plato Card' but 'the philosopher-king argument.' And you must be polite to your opponent, no matter how obnoxious they are.

In LD, your value and criterion count - this is how all of your arguments will be judged, as well as any impacts. If you prove horrible war crimes will be committed under your opponent's case, but have conceded the value of real politick and your opponent effectively argues those war crimes will improve the political standing of the perpetrator, then no matter how morally reprehensible the crimes committed, there is no impact under that value. Conceding the value is fine, if you think you can win under theirs, but understand the full ramifications of doing so are not merely saving time for your clever sub-points, but conceding how they will be judged.

A final note on LD - Lincoln Douglas is styled on an election debate - you are trying to get elected, persuade the judge to vote for you - you are not trying to cram in as many words as you can in hopes that one of them might give you the win, if only you speak so fast your opponent can't physically flow your speech.

In Extempt Debate, you only have at most two minutes - keep your evidence to statistics and use your own arguments - you really don't have enough time for anything else - which is the point. And avoid the temptation to try to fit 5 minutes of speech into a two-minute speech - if you are speaking too fast to take notes, you are by definition saying nothing noteworthy.

For speech events - clarity is the most important part of any speech - not just clarity of speech, but clarity of meaning and clarity of purpose. If you move, move for a purpose. If you speak oddly or with a heavy accent that is barely comprehensible, it still needs to clearly communicate something; the emotions of the phrase we can't understand, at the very least.

Finally, never tell the judge she MUST vote for you - the judge must vote for whom they think won - declaring yourself the winner is generally bad form, no matter how badly you have trounced your opponent. Forcefully argue in your voters or final speech why you think you won, but no mic drop.

I appreciate the delivery of the spoken word at a moderate speed. I request that you utilize consideration when engaging with teammates, opponents and judges. Please present your argument in a clear, concise and organized manner. I need you to connect your details to your argument.

I am unble to judge speed reading adequately, therefore more often than not you will lose my vote. Please utilize language to clarify your points and enable your speech to be easily followed.

It is helpful to utilize tag lines, signposts. Roadmaps off - time help to clarify the organization of your presentation for me.

Debates and arguments must be persuasive. If the argument does not persuade me, I will not be able to cast my vote for it. Debaters must tell me what is importand and why I should cast my vote for their position. Please be clear and concise about what I am considering and emphasize your key points. The impacts of your contentions must be realistic. Your arguments must be clear and plausible. Please present a clear anaylsis of why you should win in the final rebuttal round.

I evaluate your fluency of speech, rate, tone, use of transitions, as well as organization of details. Please view each session as an opportunity to learn and grow. I look forward to the opportunity to learn from you!!!

I have personally debated Public Forum for four years, and have experience coaching and judging debates. Love a good respectful and competitive debate. :D

I currently am mentoring a PF debate team. I aim to coach later on. I was a policy debater before, therefore I am familiar with the rules, techniques, and theory behind debate.

I have a high threshold for speed however I believe speech clarity (tone & articulation) to be much more important. Try not to go past 300wpm. Do not spread. I am more of a pragmatic thinker than a philosophical one. Evidence, practicality, and logic are fundamental in arguments. I have a certain threshold to theory, however as PF is now more common, the threshold is pretty low. Try to stick to the warrant and impact. Continuously stick to weighing, and collapsing on your oppn.'s core points. Sign posting, tagline, line-by-line, and flow are effective.

Attack the argument, not the person. Actively listening to the argument is the only way to attack the opposition effectively. Establish your framework. No CP, avoid K, and avoid suddenly adding a DA. Avoid adding new contentions after 1st rebuttal. Evidence should be reliable, robust, recent, and relevant. I pay extra attention to the quality of your cards.

Prep time - I am strict with times in general. With prep time, you stop what you are doing when it is the end of prep time. Be clear that you are using prep time. If the timer is not running, it is no one’s prep time. Do not steal prep.

Be respectful and use etiquette. Do not make oral signals or whisper/talk during an opponents’ speech.

I am a traditional judge, believing PFD is not Policy or LD, please stick the tenants that established what PFD was and still should be. Speed is deterred, if you speak too quickly those contention cards are dropped, slower pace and stronger arguments win out. Please be respectful and when asking for cards or evidence please have readily available, if not, the time will be taken from your prep time, especially if the inability to locate and send is abusive.

Thank you and looking forward to a great debate.